Electrical connector assembly

ABSTRACT

An electrical connector assembly adapted to be mounted to a support chassis by snap-in action, the assembly being provided with deflectable clip elements insertable into mating openings in the support chassis to engage the chassis and secure the assembly thereto, said clip element being deflectable to permit removal of the assembly from the chassis by displacement of the clip elements to a position where they will pass through the chassis openings upon said removal.

United States Patent [191 A Q in] 3,824,552 2 Kirby v July 16, 1974 4] ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY [75] Inventor: Edward Kirby, Des Plaines, lll. 'gfg f igggr ffsg f g 3] Assigneei Cleveland, Ohio Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lawrence S. Cohen; Joseph [22 Filed: May 25, 1972 K'enmger 21 Appl. No.: 256,685

52 us. Cl 339/128, 339/91 R, 248/223- [57] ABSTRACT {2;} Ezra-set-.-.-.:;.-;.; 5232;1 5:255; :2 An to be mounted to a support chassis by snap-in action, the 339/134 248/223 assembly being provided with deflectable clip elements insertable into mating openings in the support [56] References cued chassis to engage'the chassis and secure the assembly UNITED STATES PATENTS thereto, said clip element being deflectable to permit 2,169,708 8/1939 OCallaghan 248/223 X removal of the assembly from the chassis by displacegflgg; C

339/132 B X ment of the clip elements to a position where they will th u h th has 's 0 en' s u 0 id al. 3.459.396 8/1969 Buttriss 339/126 R x pass to g e c p mg p n Sa remov FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 5 Claims 8 Drawing Figures 773,012 l2/l957 Great Britain 339/91 R ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY The present invention relates to a connector assembly and more particularly it relates to an improved electrical connector assembly which is removeably secured to a support chassis by deflectable clip elements and which is provided with a mating plug element adapted to be secured to the connector assembly by deflectable elements.

The snap-in connector concept set forth herein is useful with connector assemblies generally but is particularly useful in conjunction with the conventional connector having a plurality of ribbon-like contacts in high density configuration.

As is commonly known, the socket portion of such connectors is comprised of a plastic insulating body disposed within a rigid protective metal shell.

Socket elements of connector assemblies of the type noted above are commonly attached to a support chassis by threaded members. That is, a nut and bolt assembly may be used or other threaded fastening means commonly employed in the art may be employed here to secure the socket rigidly to the chassis.

The concept set forth herein is intended to eliminate the use of threaded members to attach the connector assembly to the chassis and to provide a quick-connect and disconnect means for mounting of the socket with respect to the chassis.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an-improved electrical connector assembly having a quick-connect snap-in feature which permits easy insertion and removal of the socket member of the connector assembly with respect to the chas- SIS.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention reside in the provision of an improved electrical connector assembly having spring clip elements assotively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use and durable in use and which permits ready replacement of connector elements of the assembly, when necessary; and in the provision of mounting means for the elements of the assembly which are readily adapted to connector assembly elements presently in use.

The novel features which are believed tobe characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, together with further objects and advantages thereof will best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of the plug and socket of the connector assembly shown in assembled relation with respect to the chassis;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the plug, socket and chassis;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the plug element of the connector assembly; I

FIG. 4 is an end view of the plug element of FIG. 3 taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the socket element of the connector assembly, partly in section, illustrating a clip element at theright (as viewed in FIG. 5);

FIG. 6 is an end elevation of the socket assembly of FIG. 5 taken along lines 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is one view of the clip element of the connector assembly; and

. FIG. 8 is a view of the spring element of FIG. 7 rotated with respect to the view of FIG. 7.

Referring more particularly now to the drawings the connector assembly of the present invention is indicated generally at 10 in FIG. 1 and includes the socket element of the assembly, illustrated at 12, and the plug 14 associated therewith.

The plug 14 is defined by a rigid hood 16 which extends over the insulating body disposed within the hood and shields the insulating body and connector elements (not shown).disposed therein. A first spring clip element 18 is securely mounted to one side of the hood 16 of the plug 14 and extends downwardly therefrom to terminate in an upturned lip portion 20. A second spring clip element 22 is secured to the other side of the hood 16 of the plug 14 and extends downardly from the hood 16 to terminate in the upturned lip portion 24, as illustrated in FIG. 1.

The hood 16 may be formed from aluminum in a drawing process. The spring metal clips 18 and 22 are fastened to the hood by rivets, or similar fastening means, and have the depending skirt portions described herein above which are adapted to fit over the socket 12, as described below.

It should be noted that a spreader tool of conventional form may be employed to remove the plug assembly from the socket. However, such element forms no part of the present invention and will not be described herein.

As shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings, the clip elements 18 and 22 are laterally displaced with respect to the hood to define a staggered relationship. This is eseential in view of the nature of use of the connector elements with which these assemblies are employed. That is, the plug and socket assembly characterized in the drawings and description herein are commonly designated as ribbon contact connectors. The assemblies are relatively small and intended to define circuit continuity for a relatively large number of circuit paths. When these connectors are placed in an array on a chassis they are in very close spaced relationship. Accordingly,

it is necessary to stagger the spring clips on the hood 16 so that the plug assemblies may be mounted on the sockets 12 without interference between spring clips on adjacent plugs 14.

The socket 12 of the connector assembly is defined v by an insulating body 26 which is disposed in a rigid protective shell 28. The shell may be of aluminum or other suitable rigid material to protect the insulating body. Connector elements 30 are conventionally disposed in the insulating body .26 to electrically mate with associated circuit elements to define continuous circuit paths through the connector assembly.

The rigid protective shell 28 of the socket 12 is provided with outwardly extending flanges 32 at either end thereof. In conventional mounting of the socket elements 12, as described herein, the flanges would be provided with openings through which threaded members would be inserted to secure the socket 12 to the chassis 34. It can readily be seen that this involves a relatively time consuming operation in that appropriate alighment of the socket 12 with respect to the chassis 34 must first occur and then separate elements must be inserted through openings in the flange members 32 and the chassis 34 and threaded together to define a rigid inter-connection between the socket 12 and the chassis 34. The concept set forth herein is intended to eliminate the relatively cumbersome operation previously associated with securing sockets 12 to the chassis 34 in the manner described above. v

Clip elements 36 are'secured to the socket 12 by mounting them rigidly to the flanges 32 associated with the rigid metal shell 28 of said sockets. Accordingly, the clip elements 36, in effect, become a rigid part of the socket assembly when so mounted.

The clip elements 36 are arranged on the socket assembly 12 in a manner such that they will pass into the opening 38 def ned in the chassis 34 and be captured by the chassis to prevent inadvertent withdrawal of the socket 12 from the chassis 34.

The clip elements 36 may have any desired contiguration. One configuration which is suitable for the purpose described herein is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 6 8. In the form illustrated the clip element 36 has a generally L-Shaped cross section appearance. The upper leg 40 of the clip 36 is adapted to be placed in juxtaposed relation to the flange 32 of the socket 12 and to besecured to the flange by a rivet 42, or other suitable fastening means. The depending leg 44 of the clip element 36 is intended to pass through the opening 38 in the chassis 34 and to be captured by the chassis to prevent withdrawal of the socket 12.

The clip element 36 preferably are of a spring material or, will possess. some elastomeric characteristic so that they may be deflected to readily pass to thechassis opening 38 and to permit inward deflection of the clip elements 36 so that socket 12 may readily be removed from the chassis 34, when desired.

The depending leg 44 of the clip elements 36, in th configuration illustrated for purposes of description of the inventive concept, is defined in the form of a spade configuration having a neck portion 46 which is generally the same lateral dimension as the upper leg 40 (for illustrative purposes) and a lower gripping portion 48 extending from the neck portion 46 with a sholder 50 being defined between the neck 46 and lower gripping portion 48 of the clip 36.

It can readily be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings herein, that the socketl2 is rigidly secured to the chassis 34 by simple plug-in insertion of the socket with respect to the chassis opening 38. That is, the socket 12 t is pushed into the chassis opening 38 and the clip elements 36'deflect inwardly to pass through the recess area 52 of the chassis opening 38. The neck portion 46 of the clip element 36 is substantially the same width as the recess portion 52 of the chassis opening 38 and will slip into the opening 52 when the socket 12 is pushed into the chassis opening 38 a sufficient distance. The spring clip then will deflect outwardly (as illustrated) and the sholder 50 of the clip 36 will extend beneath the lower surface of the chassis 34 to-defme an interference capture and to lock the socket 12 with respect to the chassis 34.

It will be readily apparent that the socket 12 is removeable from engagement with the chassis 34 by deflecting the spring clips .36 inwardly to move the sholder 50 out of engagement with the chassis 34 whereby the socket 12 may be withdrawn from engagement with the chassis opening 38 for repair, maintenance,.or any other purpose. I

Different gripping portion designs may be provided on the clip elements 36. For example it is not necessary to taper the lower portion of the gripping element or portion 48 of the leg 44. A rectangular configuration or square configuration may be employed equally well.

While a specific embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described it will, of course, be understood that other modifications and alternative constructions may be used without departing from the true spirit and scope of this invention. It is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and ably'secured to a support chassis, the support chassis having an opening therein to receive and secure the assembly with respect to said chassis, the electrical assembly comprising: 1

a connector assembly having a plurality of electrically conductive elements disposed therein;

at least two flat deflectable clip elements opposedly mounted on the connector assembly and extending forwardly of the connector assembly, the clip element having aneck portion extending from the connector assembly to a lower and wider gripping portion comprising shoulders fixedly spaced apart extending on each side of the clip where the neck and gripping portion join, the shoulders being spaced from the mounting of the clip to the connector assembly to permit capture of a chassis between the shoulders and the connector.

2 The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 wherein the clip elements are rigidly secured to a shell extending about an insulating body of the connector assembly and one disposed at either of longitudinal ends of said shell with the clip elements being received in respective openings in a chassis to define the rigid interconnection between the electrical connector assembly and the chassis.

3. The electrical connector assembly of claim I having a mating plug assembly mounted thereon, said plug assembly being secured to the connector assembly of claim 1 by a pair of deflectable clip elements rigidly attached to and disposed in laterally displaced relation on opposed sides of the plug element whereby the deflectable clip elements are adapted to engage the rigid shell of the connector assembly to removeably secure the plug element with respect to the connector.

4. The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 wherein the clip elements are rigidly secured to a shell extending about an insulating body of the connector assembly and are disposed at either of longitudinal ends of said shell.

5. The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 further comprising a chassis having an opening therein for receiving the connector assembly and having recesses extending from the opening for receiving the neck portion of the respective clip elements.

# 5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,824,552 Dated July 16, 1974 lnventoz-(g) Edward Kirby It is certified that error-appears in the above-identified patent I and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 5, "removeably" should read --removably-- Column 1, line 41, "removeably" should read -removably Column 3, line 2, "alighment" should read -alignment Column 3, line 24, insert a comma after the word "illustrated" Column 3, line 33, "element" change to "elements" Column 3, .line 46, "sholder" should read --shoulder- Column 3, line 60, "sholder" should read -shoulder Column 3, line 65, "removeable" should read --removable-- Column 4, line 1, "sholder" should read --shoulder-- Column 4, line 6, insert a comma after the word "example" Column 4, line 54, "removeably" should read --removably-- Signed and sealed this 29th day of October 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M, GIBSON JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. An improved electrical connector assembly to define the means for circuit continuity and to be removably secured to a support chassis, the support chassis having an opening therein to receive and secure the assembly with respect to said chassis, the electrical assembly comprising: a connector assembly having a plurality of electrically conductive elements disposed therein; at least two flat deflectable clip elements opposedly mounted on the connector assembly and extending forwardly of the connector assembly, the clip element having a neck portion extending from the connector assembly to a lower and wider gripping portion comprising shoulders fixedly spaced apart extending on each side of the clip where the neck and gripping portion join, the shoulders being spaced from the mounting of the clip to the connector assembly to permit capture of a chassis between the shoulders and the connector.
 2. The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 wherein the clip elements are rigidly secured to a shell extending about an insulating body of the connector assembly and one disposed at either of longitudinal ends of said shell with the clip elements being received in respective openings in a chassis to define the rigid interconnection between the electrical connector assembly and the chassis.
 3. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1 having a mating plug assembly mounted thereon, said plug assembly being secured to the connector assembly of claim 1 by a pair of deflectable clip elements rigidly attached to and disposed in laterally displaced relation on opposed sides of the plug element whereby the deflectable clip elements are adapted to engage the rigid shell of the connector assembly to removeably secure the plug element with respect to the connector.
 4. The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 wherein the clip elements are rigidly secured to a shell extending about an insulating body of the connector assembly and are disposed at either of longitudinal ends of said shell.
 5. The improved electrical connector assembly of claim 1 further comprising a chassis having an opening therein for receiving the connector assembly and having recesses extending from the opening for receiving the neck portion of the respective clip elements. 